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Cindy Rice, RS, CPFS, MSPH is the owner and founder of Eastern Food Safety, and is here to answer all of your food safety questions. Submit your question here!

Storing Foods Outside

Q: At a church where I work part-time, people make sack lunches to feed the homeless. When they think it is cold enough, they put the sandwiches in an elevator that is on the outside of the building, and is not heated. A few times I have been concerned that it was not cold enough to be refrigerating the food this way. At what temperature can you safely refrigerate food outside?

A: The internal temperature of the food should be at 41 degrees F or lower, to be safe from bacteria growth.